| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Men

Date	30 – 31 August 1960
Status	Olympic
Location	Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto, Roma
Participants	37 from 27 countries

At Melbourne in 1956 Australians David Theile and John Monckton had gone 1-2. They had also set the last two world records coming into Rome, with Monckton holding the current mark of 1:01.5. Theile had taken off 1957-58 while he was in medical school, but he recovered well from that lack of training. In the Rome final he won somewhat comfortably, with two Americans, Frank McKinney and Bob Bennett, placing second and third respectively. Monckton was even with Theile on the outward lap, but misjudged the wall and hit his head, eventually placing seventh.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	David Theile	AUS	1:03.1 (1 h4)	1:03.1 (1 h1)	1:01.9 (1)	Gold
2	Frank McKinney	USA	1:02.4 (1 h5)	1:03.8 (1 h2)	1:02.1 (2)	Silver
3	Bob Bennett	USA	1:02.0 (1 h2)	1:03.7 (3 h1)	1:02.3 (3)	Bronze
4	Robert Christophe	FRA	1:04.0 (1 h3)	1:03.7 (2 h1)	1:03.2 (4)
5	Leonid Barbiyer	URS	1:03.5 (2 h2)	1:04.3 (3 h2)	1:03.5 (5)
6	Wolfgang Wagner	GER	1:04.7 (3 h1)	1:03.9 (2 h2)	1:03.5 (6)
7	John Monckton	AUS	1:04.4 (1 h1)	1:03.8 (4 h1)	1:04.1 (7)
8	Veiko Siimar	URS	1:04.6 (2 h4)	1:04.6 (5 h1)	1:04.6 (8)
=9	Graham Sykes	GBR	1:04.8 (2 h3)	1:04.7 (5 h2)	–
=9	Jürgen Dietze	GER	1:04.0 (3 h2)	1:04.7 (4 h2)	–
11	Pedro Diz	ARG	1:04.7 (2 h5)	1:05.0 (6 h2)	–
=12	Stig-Olof Grenner	FIN	1:04.7 (3 h5)	1:05.2 (7 h1)	–
=12	József Csikány	HUN	1:04.5 (2 h1)	1:05.2 (7 h2)	–
=12	Kazuo Tomita	JPN	1:04.7 (4 h1)	1:05.2 (6 h1)	–
15	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	1:05.0 (5 h1)	1:06.2 (8 h1)	–
16	Giuseppe Avellone	ITA	1:05.4 (3 h4)	1:06.5 (8 h2)	–
17	Bob Wheaton	CAN	1:05.7 (3 h3)	–	–
=18	Claude Raffy	FRA	1:05.8 (4 h5)	–	–
=18	Gilberto Elsa	ITA	1:05.8 (5 h5)	–	–
=20	Alejandro Gaxiola	MEX	1:05.9 (5 h3)	–	–
=20	Jan Jiskoot	NED	1:05.9 (4 h2)	–	–
=20	Bengt-Olov Almstedt	SWE	1:05.9 (4 h3)	–	–
=23	Friedrich Suda	AUT	1:06.0 (5 h2)	–	–
=23	Mihovil Dorčić	YUG	1:06.0 (6 h2)	–	–
25	Haydn Rigby	GBR	1:06.2 (4 h4)	–	–
26	Julio Cabrera	ESP	1:06.5 (6 h1)	–	–
27	Raúl Cerqueira	POR	1:06.7 (7 h1)	–	–
28	Athos de Oliveira Júnior	BRA	1:07.9 (6 h3)	–	–
29	Enrique Rabell	MEX	1:08.0 (6 h5)	–	–
30	Kazuo Watanabe	JPN	1:08.4 (5 h4)	–	–
31	Lorenzo Cortez	PHI	1:08.7 (6 h4)	–	–
32	Rolf Burggraf	SUI	1:11.0 (7 h4)	–	–
33	Joram Shnider	ISR	1:11.1 (7 h2)	–	–
34	Rudy Muller	LUX	1:12.3 (7 h3)	–	–
35	Dimitrios Kolovos	GRE	1:13.8 (8 h1)	–	–
36	Ünsal Fikirci	TUR	1:15.2 (8 h2)	–	–
37	János Konrád	HUN	1:19.9 (7 h5)	–	–

Round One (30 August 1960 — 20:40)

Fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	John Monckton	AUS	– (–) –	1:04.4	Q
2	3	József Csikány	HUN	– (–) –	1:04.5	Q
3	5	Wolfgang Wagner	GER	– (–) –	1:04.7	Q
4	6	Kazuo Tomita	JPN	– (–) –	1:04.7	Q
5	2	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	– (–) –	1:05.0	Q
6	7	Julio Cabrera	ESP	– (–) –	1:06.5
7	1	Raúl Cerqueira	POR	– (–) –	1:06.7
8	8	Dimitrios Kolovos	GRE	– (–) –	1:13.8

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Bob Bennett	USA	– (–) –	1:02.0	QOR
2	3	Leonid Barbiyer	URS	– (–) –	1:03.5	Q
3	5	Jürgen Dietze	GER	– (–) –	1:04.0	Q
4	7	Jan Jiskoot	NED	– (–) –	1:05.9
5	6	Friedrich Suda	AUT	– (–) –	1:06.0
6	2	Mihovil Dorčić	YUG	– (–) –	1:06.0
7	1	Joram Shnider	ISR	– (–) –	1:11.1
8	8	Ünsal Fikirci	TUR	– (–) –	1:15.2

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Robert Christophe	FRA	– (–) –	1:04.0	Q
2	5	Graham Sykes	GBR	– (–) –	1:04.8	Q
3	3	Bob Wheaton	CAN	– (–) –	1:05.7
4	2	Bengt-Olov Almstedt	SWE	– (–) –	1:05.9
5	7	Alejandro Gaxiola	MEX	– (–) –	1:05.9
6	6	Athos de Oliveira Júnior	BRA	– (–) –	1:07.9
7	1	Rudy Muller	LUX	– (–) –	1:12.3

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	David Theile	AUS	– (–) –	1:03.1	Q
2	5	Veiko Siimar	URS	– (–) –	1:04.6	Q
3	6	Giuseppe Avellone	ITA	– (–) –	1:05.4	Q
4	2	Haydn Rigby	GBR	– (–) –	1:06.2
5	3	Kazuo Watanabe	JPN	– (–) –	1:08.4
6	7	Lorenzo Cortez	PHI	– (–) –	1:08.7
7	1	Rolf Burggraf	SUI	– (–) –	1:11.0

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Frank McKinney	USA	– (–) –	1:02.4	Q
2	5	Pedro Diz	ARG	– (–) –	1:04.7	Q
3	3	Stig-Olof Grenner	FIN	– (–) –	1:04.7	Q
4	2	Claude Raffy	FRA	– (–) –	1:05.8
5	6	Gilberto Elsa	ITA	– (–) –	1:05.8
6	7	Enrique Rabell	MEX	– (–) –	1:08.0
7	1	János Konrád	HUN	– (–) –	1:19.9

Semi-Finals (31 August 1960 — 8:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	David Theile	AUS	– (–) –	1:03.1	Q
2	3	Robert Christophe	FRA	– (–) –	1:03.7	Q
3	4	Bob Bennett	USA	– (–) –	1:03.7	Q
4	6	John Monckton	AUS	– (–) –	1:03.8	Q
5	2	Veiko Siimar	URS	– (–) –	1:04.6	Q
6	1	Kazuo Tomita	JPN	– (–) –	1:05.2
7	7	Stig-Olof Grenner	FIN	– (–) –	1:05.2
8	8	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	– (–) –	1:06.2

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Frank McKinney	USA	– (–) –	1:03.8	Q
2	7	Wolfgang Wagner	GER	– (–) –	1:03.9	Q
3	5	Leonid Barbiyer	URS	– (–) –	1:04.3	Q
4	3	Jürgen Dietze	GER	– (–) –	1:04.7
5	1	Graham Sykes	GBR	– (–) –	1:04.7
6	2	Pedro Diz	ARG	– (–) –	1:05.0
7	6	József Csikány	HUN	– (–) –	1:05.2
8	8	Giuseppe Avellone	ITA	– (–) –	1:06.5

Final (31 August 1960 — 22:40)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	David Theile	AUS	– (–) –	1:01.9	OR
2	2	Frank McKinney	USA	– (–) –	1:02.1
3	3	Bob Bennett	USA	– (–) –	1:02.3
4	5	Robert Christophe	FRA	– (–) –	1:03.2
5	1	Leonid Barbiyer	URS	– (–) –	1:03.5
6	7	Wolfgang Wagner	GER	– (–) –	1:03.5
7	6	John Monckton	AUS	– (–) –	1:04.1
8	8	Veiko Siimar	URS	– (–) –	1:04.6